LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law requires the state board to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants in the state.

This bill would require the state board, by January 1, 2021, to adopt a climate accounting protocol to evaluate the potential of proposed climate mitigation and restoration actions to reduce radiative forcing and excess heat in the atmosphere to reduce the global and regional mean temperatures.

Digest Key

Vote:
MAJORITY
Appropriation:
NO
Fiscal Committee:
YES
Local Program:
NO

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) Climate change continues to pose a serious and growing threat to the economic well-being, public health, and natural resources of California.

(b) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has emphasized the importance of stabilizing the global mean temperature rise to at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius to prevent irreversible climate change by as early as 2030, and stated that unprecedented action is needed to accomplish this goal.

(c) California is particularly vulnerable
to climate change, and is experiencing temperature increase more than double the global average, because of its geographic location, proximity to the Pacific Ocean, and changes in ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns. This has already led to severe impacts, such as major tree die-offs, longer wildfire seasons, and an increase in dangerous black carbon pollution from wildfires.

(d) Despite climate measures adopted so far in California and around the world, emissions of carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases, and short-lived climate pollutants continue to increase and climate change shows no sign of slowing down.

(e) Climate modeling shows that it is not possible to stabilize the global mean temperature rise to at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius without undertaking additional
pre-2030 climate mitigation and restoration actions focused on reducing radiative forcing levels associated with excess trapped heat. These urgent actions are in addition and complementary to current efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases being undertaken by the state.

(f) International climate accounting standards aimed at identifying the most beneficial and cost-effective immediate climate actions that can be taken to reduce radiative forcing while safeguarding human health and the environment are anticipated to be published in 2020.

(g) Given its climate leadership role and the urgency of the issue, California needs to engage in efforts to advance and adopt climate accounting standards that specifically focus on reducing radiative forcing and stabilizing the global
mean temperature rise to at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030.

SEC. 2.

Section 39735 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

39735.

On or before January 1, 2021, the state board shall adopt a climate accounting protocol to evaluate the potential of proposed climate mitigation and restoration actions to reduce radiative forcing and excess heat in the atmosphere to reduce global and regional mean temperatures benefitting all Californians. In adopting the protocol, the state board may use “Radiative Forcing Management - Guidance for the quantification and reporting of radiative forcing-based climate footprints and mitigation efforts” issued by the International Organization for Standardization international radiative forcing
accounting standards in a manner that is relevant and beneficial for California.